NFL Draft News & Analysis

Clemson-Boston College grades: Tigers roll over BC offense

CHESTNUT HILL, MA - OCTOBER 07: Wayne Gallman #9, Deshaun Watson #4, Deon Cain #8 of the Clemson Tigers celebrate a touchdown in second half against the Boston College Eagles at Alumni Stadium on October 7, 2016 in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

Clemson Tigers 56, Boston College Eagles 10

Here are the top-graded players and biggest takeaways from Clemson’s 56-10 win over Boston College:

Clemson Tigers

Quarterback grade: Deshaun Watson, 74.7

Business as usual for the Clemson QB. Watson protected the ball extremely well although it wasn’t too difficult a task. Clemson had receivers running wild through the BC secondary giving Watson some big plays that you or I could have hit. 84.1 percent of Watson’s yards came after the catch as he ended the day with an 81.0 adjusted completion percentage

Top offensive grades:

TE Jordan Leggett, 74.8
C Jay Guillermo, 74.6
WR Deon Cain, 73.7
LT Mitch Hyatt, 72.6
RB Wayne Gallman, 72.5

Big play give starters an early exit

No one player really stood out grade wise for the Clemson offense as almost everyone got into the act. The most impressive player on the field for my money, though, was Wayne Gallman, and that has to be encouraging for Clemson fans. After a slow start to the season, Gallman has come back strong the past two contests. On only nine carries, Gallman gained 92 yards after contact and broke three tackles. The way he was running the rock, the junior could have easily gone for over 200 yards if he was given the chance.

Top defensive grades:

LB Ben Boulware, 85.7
DT Dexter Lawrence, 83
S Van Smith, 82.0
CB Cordrea Tankersley, 79.4
CB Mark Fields, 79.3

Front-seven offers smothering performance

Boston College attempted to establish the run all game long and the Clemson front-seven simply wouldn’t allow it allowing 3.8 yards per carry with only three missed tackles on 44 carries. When BC did decide to pass, Clemson shut down that as well. They pressured Patrick Towles on 40 percent of his dropbacks with Clelin Ferrell and Dexter Lawrence racking up four pressures a piece.

Boston College Eagles

Quarterback grade: Patrick Towles, 58.2

When your starting quarterback finishes the game with under 100 yards passing, that’s usually a bad sign, and Towles’ grade reflects that. He completed only two passes 10-plus yards downfield all day and he was sacked or scrambled on eight of his 30 dropbacks. On those five scrambles he averaged only three yards per carry and had a fumble.

Top offensive grades:

TE Tommy Sweeney, 70.5
RB Tyler Rouse, 68.1
LG Elijah Johnson, 66.6
WR Ben Glines, 58.4
WR Thadd Smith, 57.6

Futility all around

This was about as all-around bad a performance as I’ve graded all season offensively. The Eagles finished with every starter earning a below-average grade. After some injuries along the offensive line, Boston College ceased to have a chance to move the ball offensively. Jim Cashman was forced to switch to center and whiffed on multiple blocks to go along with multiple bad snaps.

Top defensive grades:

DE Harold Landry, 87.2
S John Johnson, 78.7
LB Matt Milano, 75.7
DT Zach Allen, 71.3
LB Ty Schwab, 71.3

The Harold Landry show

The Boston College defense isn’t near the dominant unit that it was a season ago, though don’t blame Harold Landry for that. The defensive end did everything he could for the Eagles, but the talent in the secondary just couldn’t matchup with Clemson’s weapons on offense. Landry had a sack, a hit, and a hurry to go along with two stops versus the run.

PFF Game-Ball Winner: Clemson LB Ben Boulware

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